Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelBlood stains remain in the hallway of Joseph and Linda Naimo's Victory Boulevard apartment, where they were attacked Sunday night by two muggers.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An 81-year-old man and his 74-year-old wife had just locked up their store Sunday night when they were viciously attacked by a pair of thieves who pushed into the stairwell of their Tompkinsville apartment next door.

Joseph Naimo, who earlier in the evening celebrated his birthday, and his wife Linda Naimo were brutally beaten and hospitalized after the attack in the doorway of their apartment next to their business, 3J’s Variety Store, at 69 Victory Blvd., shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday.

Mrs. Naimo suffered a broken nose, broken jaw and a fractured skull in the attack. She is listed in "stable but critical" condition at Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Joseph Naimo was also hospitalized with a cut and scratches on his head, and soreness in his chest and legs. He was discharged today from Richmond University Medical Center.

"I was bleeding from the side, but mainly scratches," Naimo said today, standing in the blood-stained stairwell of his apartment next door to the thrift shop he and his wife have owned for 50 years. "The guy was beating me in the chest and I still feel it. And my legs, I got bad legs. I got away with the least."

The couple’s son, Rocco Naimo, 49, sustained a black eye and a cut above his left eye that required stitches after coming to the aid of his parents.

"My face is hurting, and my body," Rocco Naimo said.

The attackers fled the scene with Joseph Naimo’s wallet. He said the wallet contained $18 in cash.

Naimo, who is legally blind and says he only saw his attackers’ bodies, described the perps as a "tall" black male, husky build, and a short black female with a stocky build.

"She was short and a little plump, wearing a hood with a little fur lining in the front," Naimo said, adding that both attackers ran off along Victory Boulevard.

Police sources said officers at the scene questioned a witness who got off the bus at a nearby bus stop and saw both attackers run down Victory Boulevard. Robbery Squad is investigating the incident, and so far there are no leads, according to a source.

The attack occurred a little while after family members sang "Happy Birthday" to Naimo over birthday cake.

At about 10 minutes to 8, Naimo and his wife locked up the shop for the evening and walked next door to their apartment.

"There were two people who passed us by," Naimo recalled. "We didn’t pay too much attention to that."

Naimo opened the door for Mrs. Naimo and started to follow her inside when, "All of a sudden they shoved us on the floor, the two of them, right on the floor in the hallway and started beating on us."

"And he just kept on hittin’ and hittin’ and hittin’," Naimo said. "Finally he stops momentarily, and he’s asking, ‘Give me the money. Give me the money. Give me the money.’ And he starts ripping me apart. He was hitting me in the chest and everything, and he ripped my pants."

When Naimo said, "Wait a minute, this is enough," he took out a wallet to show there wasn’t much in it.

"I ain’t got no money, just business cards and a couple of dollars," Naimo said. "He went in his hand and grabbed it. I had $18, that’s all."

Hearing "yelling" from upstairs, Rocco Naimo ran down to help his mother and father, but the male attacker chased him back.

"Then he started beating me up, too," Rocco Naimo said.

Family member Charles Naimo said Linda Naimo got the worst of the beating.

"Both her eyes were shut black," said Charles Naimo. "The guy really wailed on her. I don’t see how anybody could do that to anyone, let alone an elderly woman."

"If they’re that vicious toward [the Naimos], what would they do to the next people they go after?" Charles Naimo asked.